Make it Easy to Speak using Graphic Organizers

Graphic organizers are visual tools and one of the scaffolding techniques that teachers can provide their students to help them think smoothly, classify ideas, find relationships, communicate more effectively, and construct meaning of their own. I always use them when teaching writing in my EFL classes and they were a great success. Today, I will not talk about how to plan writing, but I would like to share a speaking lesson utilizing such an amazing tool.

ATDOP Spring 2012: Listening and Speaking Resources for Students

1. Shaggy Dog Stories

Shaggy Dog Stories website includes a list of stories in mp3 format that can be downloaded for free.

Tips:

• I can use this website with my 11th and 12th grade students. 
• Stories can be used as Ice-breaking activities. Students listen to a certain story. Then, they retell it sentence by sentence. 
• Students can also listen to a certain story and identify 5 new words with their correct 
• pronunciation as a review exercise at the end of the lesson. These stories can be used as models before students write their own stories.

2. Randall's Cyber Listening Lab 

It includes many free printable listening worksheets and quizzes. 

Tips:

• Using the computers and the internet lesson, students will listen to a list of words related to this topic. 
• Working in groups, I give each group 3 words to use them in new sentences. Once they finish, I ask them to present their sentences. Then, they complete an exercise with these words deleted. 
• The third step is to ask each group to discuss the benefits and dangers of using computers and the internet using at least 10 words from the list to which they listened earlier. Students can also use the quizzes involved in this website as home assignment.

 3. ESL Video

There are many ready-made quizzes that are based on videos. You can also create your own quizzes to match your objectives. 

Tips:

• I can use The Power of Words quiz as a pre-speaking activity. Students will watch the video, then think about a personal story where the words changed their entire lives. 
• Students can complete the quiz The life of Charles Dickens as a post-activity after reading about Charles Dickens. They will improve their skill to listen for specific information and listen to the correct pronunciation of new words. 
• Using this website, I created my first quiz titled Tell me Why? Students will listen to the song and complete the quiz. It helps them to build new vocabulary. Then, they respond to the post-question in groups. They will talk about the ways they can help each other. Students can create their own and send them to the class wiki to practice listening with a focus on specific information or grammatical items.

4.  Voki

YouTube - Voki Tutorial

Voki is a free tool that allows users to create personalized speaking avatars. It can motivate students and provide a kind of fun that makes them get involved in the activities.

Tips:

• I can ask every student to create a Voki introducing himself or herself at the beginning of the semester. Here is my Voki. 
• Students can choose a character from the stories and novels they have and create a similar avatar with a background or a setting. Then, they record his or her role via microphone or use the computerized voice. 
• Students can create a Voki reflecting on what they learned in a certain lesson. First, they will record their voices and listen to their pronunciation. Then, they will type their words and choose a computerized voice with their favorite accents to compare their pronunciation to the native one. Students can write descriptive paragraphs about any famous persons. Then type them on their avatar and listen to the computer voice to edit their writing, e.g., adding periods, correcting misspelled words … etc.

5. The Color Vowel Chart

Vowel Discovery Activity 

It is a visual tool developed by Shirley Thompson & Karen Taylor for teaching English pronunciation. 

Tips:

• According to the authors of this tool, it represents the vowel sounds used in American English. The name of each color features the vowel sound it represents. 
• It helps students focus on the stressed vowel in the stressed syllable using two key words: a color adjective and a noun. It also helps students to see and feel the American English vowels. 
• I can create colored vocabulary lists based on this chart. When students learn new vocabulary or reading a new material, they can write the words in the correct boxes based on the stressed vowel. 
• When students are not sure about the pronunciation of a word, they can check the chart to find the color that matches it. After recording students doing a speaking activity, I ask them to listen to their voices and identify the mispronounced words and find its correct pronunciation using the color vowel chart.

6. Blabberize

Blabberize Tutorial, Examples of Blabbers

Blabberize is a web 2.0 tool that allows users to upload a photo, draw a "mouth" on that photo, and then record or upload a sound clip to make that photo speak or sing along with the sound.

Tips:

• Students can use it at the very beginning of the semester to introduce themselves. They upload a picture for them and record a message talking about their interests and hobbies. 
• Students can describe persons, animals, and objects using their photos with mouths. Here is my Blabber describing an ancient Egyptian. 
• Students can draw their pictures, e.g., directions to a place, describing a process … etc. Then, they create blabbers to explain them to their colleagues. 
• Students can use Blabberize to retell a story. Each student selects a role and tries to imitate him or her. Students can use this tool to make a summary or a reflection on the lessons and send them to the class wiki to receive feedback from the teacher and their peers.

7. ESL Lounge - Song Lyrics

It includes a lot of song lyrics. You can search for songs alphabetically from A-Z. It also includes some worksheets that can be used with the songs. However, you have to download their mp3 files because it doesn't include audio songs. 

Tips:

• Using Crocodile Rock lyrics and its mp3 audio file, students can listen to this song lyrics and talk about their happy and bad memories as a warm-up. 
• Using Let's Call The Whole Thing Off & its mp3 audio file, students can differentiate between the British and American pronunciation. 
• Students can taste the rhythm of the English language using the Every Breath You Take - The Police lyrics with its mp3 audio file. Students can also learn how to pronounce words with long vowels. 
• I ask students to listen to Everything I Do song and fill in the blanks. This will help students to focus when listening and improves their fluency. Teacher asks students to read the Heal The World lyrics or listen to its mp3 audio file before they talk about the problems of pollution.

8.  Xtranormal

 Xtranormal Tutorial, My Xtranormal Sample

It is an online movie maker that allows users to create movies using a variety of cartoon characters and voices with different accents. It can be downloaded, embedded into websites or published via YouTube.

Tips:

• This website helps students improve their listening skills and pronunciation using different accents, speaking skills by recording their voices, their presentation and non-communication skills using the features of motions, points, faces, and pauses. 
• Using Xtranormal, students can create movies practicing dialogues or conversations using some language functions. 
• After reading their textbook’s stories, students can choose some characters to play their roles recording their voices and selecting similar faces. 
• Using one actor, each student can prepare a 5-minute presentation about a certain concept. Students can retell a story with all its elements; setting, characters, music, dialogue and events. 

9. Agenda Web for Listening

It is a BIG treasure for foreign language learners. Browsing this great resource, you will find a lot of listening activities, stories and fairytales  real conversations, songs, videos, and podcasts for all levels.

Tips:

• Using Stories and Fairytales section, students can read and listen to a variety of stories at the same time. They can download audio files and listen to them many times to pick up some new words and their correct pronunciation.
• Using Real English Conversations section, students can listen to many conversations to identify the stressed syllables and intonation.
• English Audio Activities section provides students with many chances to listen to people talking about general topics with transcripts. This helps them to notice many aspects of language, e.g., stress, pauses, reduced forms … etc. Using Learn English through Songs, students can listen to songs and read the lyrics at the same time. After listening, they are going to complete some exercises.

ATDOP Spring 2012: Listening and Speaking Resources for Teachers

1. VOA Activities: Academic English

The VOA Activities website provides a variety of authentic materials and videos for improving listening and speaking skills.

Tips:

• Through practicing an activity called Communicating with Classmates in America, I learned some key communication skills, how to start a friendly conversation with an American classmate, and which topics are appropriate.
• Knowing the elements that should be included and those that I should avoid in my speech will provide me with some confidence when talking with others. This activity also helps me to use natural accent and expressions when engaging in a conversation.

2. BBC: Learning English

It provides a lot of podcasts, stories, and reports. There are sections for pronunciation, vocabulary and quizzes. 

Tips:

• Listening to the Words in the News reports and stories, I learned how to pronounce words, identify the difference between the way we speak in natural situations and when reporting and build new vocabulary. 
• These reports and stories help me to know more about the most recent topics with many new words. 
• Podcasts section is another resource where I can listen to a variety of topics. I can consider them as a model before creating my own audio file reflecting on week 2 activities.

3. Guide for Educators:

Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators is a categorized list of sites useful for enhancing curriculum and professional growth. 

Tips:

• Browsing the Assessment and Rubrics page, I found a variety of ready-made rubrics that help me to assess my students’ performances in many areas, e.g., language skills, web 2.0, multimedia, portfolios ...etc. It also presents some alternatives to Rubistar, e.g., Rubric Machine and Rubrics Generators. 
• Using the Oral Expressing Rubric Generator, I created a speaking rubric and I also used the Listening Rubric Generator to create a listening rubric for my students. It is so easy and doesn't need to create an account. 
• This website helps me to know more criteria and dimensions that should be involved in the speaking and listening tasks. It includes a lot of articles about using rubrics and how to create them. 

4. Screencast-O-Matic:

Screencast-O-Matic is a free, web-based tool that allows users to record their voices along with whatever’s happening on their computer screen. 

Tips:

• This tool improves my speaking, and presentation skills. 
• It can help me to create oral presentations using some PowerPoint slides.
• It allows me to produce some models for my students for the oral tests or tutorials (Sample) to accomplish required tasks. 
• I can record my voice and listen to it in order to check my pronunciation, using stress and intonation … etc. 
• It includes a feature of commenting, so I can get feedback from others about my choice of content, my way of presentation, speaking, and pronunciation. It can be an innovative way to answer my students’ questions about regarding projects, home assignments, and the problems they face when studying. It can also be considered a way for communication among students, teachers and parents.

5. Learn Real English YouTube Channel:

Rule # 1, Rule # 2, Rule # 3, Rule # 4, Rule # 5, Rule # 6, and Rule # 7

This channel presents a series for Excellent English speaking. The channel team teaches people a new way to speak English fluently. 

Tips:

• I learned (7) rules of how to improve my speaking skills: study phrases not individual words, do not study grammar rules, listen first (learn with your ears not eyes), learn deeply by using and doing, use point of view stories to learn grammar implicitly, use real English materials, (e.g. read comic books, magazines, or listen to movies, TV news, podcasts etc.), use listen and answer stories focusing on how to think in English. 
• This series provides me with some tips to speak in English quickly, easily, automatically, powerfully and confidently. 
• Listening to this series is considered as an authentic input resource for me to correct mispronunciation of words and how to use stress in my speech. I learned some rules for a good oral presentation, e.g., how to balance between speech and body language.

6. NPR This I Believe:

This I Believe Series engaged listeners in a discussion of the core beliefs that guide their daily lives. We heard from people of all walks of life — the very young and the very old, the famous and the previously unknown.

Tips:

• I learned how other people from all over the world deal with problems. I also gained new experiences, different perspectives and attitudes towards the challenges I face 
• in my daily life.
• It can help me to listen to native speakers to pick up the correct pronunciation, stress and intonation.
• It presents many essays with their audio files that help me to use more than one sense.
• It includes various topics about many fields, e.g., science, medicine, history … etc. This will help me to enrich my mind and ready to speak about any subject. I consider this website with its stories as an authentic resource of listening and a good example and model for good speaking.

7. TED-ED Lesson Worth Sharing:

It is an extension of TED’s mission of spreading great ideas. You will find a lot of educational videos. You can browse them by series, subject, YouTube or recent activity. This platform also allows users to take any useful educational video, and easily create a customized lesson around the video.

Tips:

• It helps me improve my listening skills putting in mind the natural flow of accent.
• It provides a variety of supplemental videos and lessons for me and my students.
• When viewing these videos, I watch lessons, solve quizzes, think about open questions and find additional resources to explore the topics through the dig deeper section. It develops my critical thinking and searching skills.
• Watching these videos, I can exchange successful practices about how to learn a foreign language.
• I can also create lessons practicing my speaking skills and gain more self-confidence.

8. Knovio:

Knovio Tutorial, My Knovio Sample

Knovio is an innovative tool for turning PowerPoint slides into rich online video presentations following 3 steps: uploading static slides, recording a video using a microphone and webcam and sharing the presentation via e-mail or social media.

Tips:

• It is a creative way to bring static PowerPoint slides into life by recording my voice and capturing a picture of mine.
• It allows me to practice speaking skills and giving me more time for self-correcting and modifying speech.
• It provides me a chance to improve my presentation skills.
• It can be a rehearsal tool before my live presentation in front of a real audience.
• It is an effective audio-visual tool that helps me to create tutorials and lessons for my students and other teachers. It can be a tool for reflection and self-talking about what I have learned. It can help me to see my progress in a certain course.

9. American English Pronunciation:

It offers free access to hundreds of pronunciation lessons and American English sounds. It also involves a lot of videos, podcasts, and minimal pairs drills. If you want to complete quizzes to assess your progress, you have to subscribe.

Tips:

• This website is considered as a good theoretical background of pronunciation skills and a start point for practicing many important aspects, e.g., vowels, consonants, stress, pitch and linking.
• The Videos section is amazing as the speaker explains the way of pronouncing vowels and consonants with examples. To see how these segments are articulated helps me to pick up the correct pronunciation easily.
• The Minimal Pairs section provides me with a variety of examples of these words that are identical but for one sound. It also allows me to complete listening drills and get a score. The Pitch section helps me a lot to identify the categories of intonations with live examples.

ATDOP Spring 2012: Improve Your Listening and Speaking

Introduction:

Access Teacher Development Online Program (ATDOP) is another 10-week online course offered by the University of Oregon taken from April 9 - June, 15, 2012. The primary goal of this course was to enhance teachers' listening and speaking skills in English and their ability to teach listening and speaking to their students.

Objectives:

• Enhance speaking skills of participants in small group sessions and with a weekly audio journal.
• Enhance listening skills of participants in small group sessions and with self-study activities.
• Enhance teaching skills of participants in listening, speaking, and pronunciation through readings and online discussion, self-study activities, and their participation in model lessons.
• Enhance teaching networks by encouraging collaboration among participants on weekly discussions, in small group sessions, and with ongoing interaction through the course social networking site (Ning).

Expectations

• Read the weekly reading and then post at least two times each week in the related discussion, once by Thursday midnight and again by midnight Sunday, Oregon time. 
• Participate actively but respectfully in the small group discussions; arrive on time and be prepared to finish on time.
• Post a reflection about your activities during the week in an audio journal.
• Do self-study exercises (30 minutes) or activities each week, and note what you did in your self-study log. 
• By the end of the course, you will have created a detailed final project, using new methods and activities that you have learned during the course. More information will be available as the course progresses.

Techniques Used:

During this course, three techniques were used to achieve its objectives:

1. Group Discussion: A Google Group was created to complete this activity. It was a closed one involving 20 educators from all over the world. Each week, some readings were assigned to read and then share our thoughts and reactions to them in the course discussion group. Here are some of the topics we discussed together:

• Week 1: Richards - Teaching Listening and Speaking and Learning Strategies
• Week 2: Formulating Goals and Objectives, Revised Bloom's Taxonomy and Writing Objectives
• Week 3: Creating a Rubric - Tutorial, Classroom Assessment, and Creating a Rubric on Rubistar
• Week 4: Strategies for Effective Lesson Planning, Elements of Effective Instruction and Graphic Organizers
• Week 5: Suprasegmentals: Pronunciation Practice for Your EFL Classroom and Prickel-traffic light approach
• Week 6: Note Taking and Specific Note Taking Strategies
• Week 7: Using music in the classroom 2000-38-4
• Week 8: Practical Aspects of Using Video in the Foreign Language Classroom and Copyright Chart for Teachers
• Week 9:  Why Suprasegmentals

2. Skype Meetings: Two Skype meetings were assigned for each participant. In the first teacher-led meeting, a group of four participants met together on Skype with their instructor (Prof. Donna Shaw). This meeting lasted about 30 minutes practicing listening and speaking activities face-to-face. Here are some examples:

• Snowball Activity
• What did you say? 
• Short Speech and Peer-evaluation with Rubrics
• Information Gap Activity
• Word Stress Games
• Listening & Note-taking – What’s Missing?
• Spoken Word
• Sharing Opinion Bingo
• Sentence Stress Practice

Each week, we also participated in a conversion group. Our conversation group leader was Wanda Walker. That meeting was also synchronous (face-to-face) and done on Skype. During these meetings, we discussed a lot of open topics and provided with a variety of resources, e.g., written, audio and video. Here are some examples of the topics we discussed:

• Self introductions (name, school, town, country, family, favorite thing to do for fun. etc.)
• Language/culture and/or a travel adventure
• Social media in your life and your students’ lives
• Listening to a story from This I Believe series and discussing the idea behind it.
• Listening to a recording and talking about the importance of Role Models
• Talking about Food

3. Audio Journal: It was a series of recordings that we made about what we did and learned during each week. We recorded ourselves speaking for two to five minutes. These recordings were about our reflections and thoughts concerning the teacher-led or conversation group synchronous (real-time) meetings. We talked about the techniques or activities we did in the two sessions. How could they be applied to our classroom or with our students? What problems might we have? We also reflected on the week’s activities, tasks, and materials. There were several ways to record our audio journal:

• Using Vocaroo by downloading the recording as an Ogg (or mp3) file: Using Vocaroo for your Audio Journal.
• Using a mobile phone (if it has that capability), then downloading the file in amr or wma format.
• Using Sound Recorder on a Windows computer (in Accessories, usually). This creates a wav format file, which is quite large: Directions.
• Downloading Audacity, recording the audio file and then exporting it to mp3 file.These directions were helpful to install and use this program. 

4. Self-Study Log: The last technique was to keep a self-study log in which we explored two tools or websites each week for at least 30 minutes. Interacting with them, we were asked to think about how to enhance our listening and speaking skills and how to use them to improve our students' skills. Once we finished the exploration process, we sent this log to our Dropbox shared folder that was used as a store for our work. Here are some examples of the tools and websites our instructor provided us:

• BBC Video Collection
• National Public Radio Podcasts
• One Stop English - Listening Lesson Plans
• One Stop English - Pronunciation Exercises 
• Phonetics: The Sounds of American English
• Pronunciation - Pronunciation Podcasts
• Voice of America -  Learning English
• BBC: Learning English
• ESL Videos and Quizzes
• Kariokebar
• KeepVid
• Vimeo

In the following posts, I will share with you some of my self-study log activities. 

This course was so fruitful from many perspectives. First, I connected to a variety of educators form all over the world with different accents. This helped my ears to be more flexible and allowed my voice to be heard. Meeting native speakers and talking with them was also a great privilege as it was considered an authentic and rich input for me as an EFL teacher. Second, recording my voice and transcribing it was another great activity that helped me a lot to know what pronunciation problems I had and what I could do to eliminate them. Third, I explored and created a lot of products using the assigned websites and tools. I also looked at them from my students' angle thinking about the ways to involve these tools in my teaching. Fourth, the project we were asked to do integrating some of the activities we did during the course was another super chance for consolidation and reinforcement. The last thing that I liked the most was evaluating each other's projects, sending and receiving feedback to improve the final products before submission. Thanks so much Oregon University for making a difference in my professional teaching life.